No spills or leaks of any kind were detected after twelve empty
freighter cars derailed early Saturday morning in the Truck Village
Drive area near Mount Shasta said Union Pacific Railroad spokesperson
Zoe Richmond.

Because one of the cars was a tanker which had previously been carrying
chlorine, all residents and businesses within a half-mile radius were
notified of the incident, and a voluntary evacuation order was issued
said Mount Shasta Fire Protection District Chief Chris Baker, who
served as incident commander.

"We took extra precautions," Richmond said. "Our focus was on ensuring
that there were no spills or residue leakage from the empty tanker."

Several agencies responded to the incident and were involved in
investigation efforts — which took a full 24 hours to complete —
including the Shasta Cascade Regional Hazardous Materials Team, the
Federal Environmental Protection Agency, MSFPD, Mount Shasta City Fire
Department, Weed City Fire, CalFire, California Highway Patrol, Mount
Shasta Police Department, Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department,
Siskiyou County Animal Control, Siskiyou County Public Health
Department, Siskiyou Office of Emergency Services, Northtree
International, Mount Shasta Ambulance, Department of Fish and Game, US
Forest Service and Union Pacific.

MSCFD Chief Matt Melo, who served as the evacuation coordinator and
safety officer for the incident, explained that chlorine is a
potentially toxic substance especially with prolonged exposure.

"Mount Shasta High School was set up as the evacuation center," Melo
said. "About 8 residents ended up there, although mostly just to check
in and see what was going on."

One business that was notified of potential danger was Furrpersons Pet
Resort, which is located near the railroad on Truck Village Drive.
Owners Stacey Chiment and Laurie King decided that the safety of their
guests was of upmost importance, and made the decision to evacuate.

With the assistance of US Forest Service officer Carmen Kinch, all 22
animals were loaded into vehicles and taken to a safe location in Mount
Shasta.

Meanwhile at the CFN gas station — which served as a command
post — all officers involved were thoroughly briefed of the situation.
Hazmat teams were then sent into the area of derailment in Level B
suits to investigate the scene and to perform testing. After it was
determined that there was no leakage, an "all clear" was given and the
voluntary evacuation order was lifted around 6 p.m. Melo said.

"Everything went very well. The situation was taken care of
efficiently... Chris Baker did an excellent job as incident commander,"
said Melo.

"The cause of the derailment will take a couple of weeks to determine,"
Richmond said. Before clean up began at the scene, photographs were
taken and evidence was collected, including train wheels and pieces of
the broken rail. These samples will be shipped to Union Pacific
headquarters in Omaha, Neb., where a formal investigation will take
place.

No injuries were a result of the derailment, and damage to the track
was relatively minor, Richmond said. The track was reopened early
Sunday morning, when the first Amtrak went through at 6:20 a.m.